Tech review: For your consideration -- several cool new gadgets

Jim Rossman, Tribune News Service on Jul 8, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

I’m lucky that I get to review lots of cool new gadgets, both big and small.

Larger or more complex things usually have enough going on that they take up all the writing space I am assigned, but sometimes I accumulate smaller or simpler gadgets, and I’ve learned to group those together.

This week we are looking at a few smaller gadgets.

EZQuest USB-C Dual Display 12-in-1 Multimedia Hub Pro Series

Laptops have changed over the years, and including every port under the sun has gone by the wayside.

I don’t have to tell Mac laptop owners, as Apple has taken away most ports in favor of a few USB-C ports. Most laptop users I know have started carrying a hub in their bags to add back the ports they need.

The EZQuest USB-C Dual Display 12-in-1 ($89.99, eqz.com) has all the ports I’d need for my job.

The hub connects to a USB-C port on your laptop, and it provides two HDMI ports, two USB-C ports, three USB-A ports, a headphone/microphone jack, SD and microSD card readers, and an Ethernet jack. There’s also a USB-C port for passing through power.

I think the best feature is the hub’s design. Most hubs have a built-in USB-C cable, kind of like a tail. The EZQuest 12-in-1 doesn’t have a tail. It has a USB-C port and a separate cable, so the hub itself is a standalone box that gives the user more options for placement.

Iniu SnapGo Air 10,000 mAh Power Bank P781

If your phone has wireless charging, keeping a magnetic power bank in your bag is a no-brainer.

About the size of a deck of cards and just a half-inch thick, the P781 ($54.99, iniushop.com) is a 10,000 milliamp-hour power bank that can provide up to 25-watt Qi2 wireless charging to keep your phone powered up.

It also has two USB-C ports to provide up to 45 watts of power to your gadgets that need wired charging.

The P781 has a small digital display to show the battery level and charge rate. It also has a very cool integrated USB-C charging cable that doubles as a carrying handle.

The battery will charge your iPhone 17 1.8 times, and your AirPods Pro 2 13.4 times.

Shelly Plug US Gen4 smart plug

Smart plugs are a great way to give some smarts to things that are not normally smart — like a lamp. Set them up on your home’s network and you can remotely control them with an app, or with your voice if you have a home assistant.

The Shelly Plug US Gen4 ($24.99, us.shelly.com) is available in black or white, and they get cheaper if you buy them in a two- or four-pack.

The Shelly plug is compatible with almost every home automation standard I can think of, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Matter, Apple Homekit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home.

They are the perfect size to not block access when they’re plugged into an outlet and they have a button on the front to manually turn the outlet off or on.

What makes them really great is their ability to show precise power consumption of any device plugged into it via the app. You can also set power limits and the plug will cut power if your device asks for more power than expected.

It also has an ambient light sensor that can also be used to turn the power on or off or trigger events or schedules.

Finally, it has an LED backlight that glows to tell you the outlet’s status at a glance. The status light can be disabled in the app.

This is a great smart plug at a great price and it does just about everything.

Eufy SmartTrack Card E40

We’ve all heard of Bluetooth locators, like the Tile or Apple’s AirTag.

I love AirTags, but they’re too bulky to slip in my wallet.

Eufy has released a new tracker that is compatible with Apple’s Find My network as well as Google’s Find Hub and it is not much larger than a credit card.

The SmartTrack Card E40 ($34.99, eufy.com) doesn’t have a removable battery like the AirTag — rather, it has a thin, rechargeable battery that can provide up to five months of battery life from any standard wireless charger.

When you need to locate the SmartTrack, you use the app on your phone, like Find My to see the last known location on a map and if the item is close by, you can activate an 80-decibel alarm that sounds so you can hear if your wallet has slipped between the couch cushions.

EcoFlow RAPID 3-in-1 power bank

I usually don’t include two power banks in one roundup, but the EcoFlow 3-in-1 ($69.99, us.ecoflow.com) is more than just a power bank.

When you add a folding plug, this power bank turns into a 45-watt USB charger, which means you might be able to carry one less charger in your bag.

This is a simple device. It has a charger plug, so you plug it into the wall to charge up the battery. You can also charge it up via the USB-C port on the bottom. There’s also a retractable USB-C charging cable on the bottom.

The power bank holds a 10,000 mAh battery and it can keep two of your devices going at the same time. The front also hides a small digital readout of the battery level.